Scotland's economy sees more growth

SCOTLAND'S economy grew for a second successive quarter, according to official figures today.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 0.5 per cent between July and September, following growth of 1.3 per cent over the previous three months.

The service sector increased by 0.1 per cent and the construction sector increased by 6.2 per cent - both recording a second period of growth. The production sector fell by 0.3 per cent, however.

And despite the overall increase in GDP, the latest figures showed a 0.1 per cent decrease on an annual basis to the end of September.

The construction sector recorded overall growth while the production and service sectors recorded downward trends over those 12 months.

The Scottish Government said growth was driven by the construction sector, which "outperformed" the UK rate of 3.9 per cent over the quarter.

Welcoming the GDP increase, Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "The 0.5 per cent growth we saw in the third quarter of last year builds on Scotland's strong performance in the second quarter of 2010, which saw the highest growth rate since the second quarter of 2006.

"We have seen strong growth in construction for three consecutive quarters, outperforming the UK as a whole - evidence that we were absolutely right to take decisive and comprehensive action through our economic recovery plan, stimulating investment by bringing forward capital projects and delivering an infrastructure programme worth 3.3 billion in 2010-11.

"This commitment is paying off, as reflected in the strong performance we are seeing in construction, where the number of workforce jobs increased by 23,000 over the year to September.

"And at a time when our capital budget is being cut by Westminster by 800 million next year, we are bringing forward a 2.5 billion investment programme through the non-profit distributing model."